Alaska

Kaktovik leaders back 1002 Area development and press AIDEA to weigh local knowledge

Kaktovik leaders told AIDEA board members that oil and gas decisions in the Arctic refuge's 1002 Area must include local residents and traditional knowledge, not just outside voices.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

A court struck down a fishery council's power. Alaska's council has the same one.

A court found a Gulf fishery council's veto unconstitutional — and Alaska's council holds the same power, behind the CDQ program and other fishing regimes.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

NWS forecasts up to 1.5 inches of rain in the Chena River basin

Up to 1.5 inches of rain will drench the Chena River basin over the next 48 hours, pushing rivers higher, though NWS Fairbanks says flooding is not expected unless the heaviest rain shifts east.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska put a price on crisis beds the Legislature created in 2022

Alaska proposed Medicaid rates for crisis mental health facilities: $1,833 a day for adults and $2,197 for adolescents, the highest on the state's chart.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kenai parks staff helped the middle school start pickleball in gym class

Kenai parks staff spent Thursday helping the middle school start pickleball in gym class. The school has paddles, nets and one court taped to the floor.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Planners urged cutting the overlay's R-1 height break. The sponsors kept it.

Anchorage planning staff told the sponsors of a housing overlay to drop its special height rules for single-family zones. The sponsors kept them.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Juneau Hydropower asks FERC for two more years to start Sweetheart Lake dam

Juneau Hydropower asked federal regulators to delay the Sweetheart Lake dam completion deadline by two years, to September 2031.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kodiak salmon fishing extended into Sunday across multiple districts

Alaska Department of Fish and Game extended Kodiak commercial salmon fishing into Sunday across multiple districts, with closing times varying by area between 6 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday.

by Bill AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Follows: Kodiak salmon fishing extended again, running through Wednesday evening

Montana Creek topped flood stage in Juneau's Mendenhall Valley, with advisories into Tuesday morning

Montana Creek rose over the low-water crossing on Montana Creek Road this week. Another foot of water would put it into yards along Mendenhall Loop Road.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

DOT&PF opens bidding to resurface Glacier Highway from Juneau's ferry terminal to South Lena

Alaska DOT&PF opened bidding to resurface 2.4 miles of Glacier Highway between Juneau's ferry terminal and South Lena, with $8.8 million in federal funding and work planned to start in August.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Driver unidentified after crash at Old Murphy Dome Road and Elliot Highway near Fairbanks

Driver unidentified after crash at Old Murphy Dome Road and Elliot Highway near Fairbanks

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

NOAA maps out how new tools enter Alaska's fish surveys

Bering Sea fish have moved 19 miles north since the 1980s. NOAA has published a plan for updating the surveys that set Alaska's catch limits.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska's missing Indigenous list drops to 355, with suspicious cases unchanged

Alaska's count of missing Alaska Native and American Indian people fell by eight. None of the drop came from the cases nobody can explain.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago3 min read

Tanana Chiefs holds first culture camp for K-6 students

Tanana Chiefs Conference held its first culture camp for K-6 students in Fairbanks, teaching Athabascan languages, potlatch dancing and traditional skills, with plans to repeat annually.

by Maggie AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago2 min read

Free school supplies and dinner at Nome's Back-to-School Bash

Nome families got free backpacks, school supplies and pizza at a community Back-to-School Bash — a welcome hand in a year of tight budgets and $10 milk.

by Alaska Newsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Anchorage's next mayor to earn about $183,000, a 26 percent raise

Anchorage's next mayor will make about $183,000, a 26 percent raise — though it won't take effect until whoever wins the April 2027 election.

by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2mo ago1 min read

Koyukon elder ties Galena swallow decline to Air Force mosquito spraying in TCC bird booklet

Elder Benedict Jones links Galena's 89 percent swallow decline since 1970 to Air Force pesticide spraying, documented in a Koyukon bird knowledge booklet published by the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Cordova wary as pipeline operator seeks a fast-tracked 30-year renewal

Alyeska seeks early renewal of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline permit with a faster review. Cordova wants a shorter term and money set aside to decommission aging infrastructure.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Cordova raises its tax on rooms, rentals and alcohol to 14 percent

Cordova raised its tax on hotel rooms, alcohol, tobacco and rentals to 14 percent, and pulled boat rentals into it. Collections are running behind last year.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

The Permanent Fund wants $215 million to run itself

The Permanent Fund wants $215.4 million to run itself next year, three-quarters of it going to the outside firms that manage the money.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Northrim's Oregon deal is on the record. The approvals are not.

Northrim's $167.3 million Oregon bank purchase is on the record, and none of the four regulatory approvals it needs has surfaced publicly.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

A Koch-backed group spent the same for Sullivan as against Peltola in one filing

Outside money keeps landing on Alaska's Senate race. A Koch-funded group spent the same amount for Dan Sullivan as it did against Mary Peltola.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska weighs dropping the required training course for marijuana handlers

Alaska may drop the required training course for marijuana handler permits, swapping a class and test for a background check — saving workers up to $500.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Sitka opens early voting Sept. 21 for six seats

Sitka opens early voting Sept. 21 for its Oct. 6 municipal election, with six seats on the ballot and registration closing Sunday.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

One donor has supplied two-fifths of what a progressive Alaska fund raised this year

One Anchorage physician has supplied two-fifths of a progressive independent expenditure fund's money this year. Alaska caps no such gift.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

TCC will hold a November summit on what villages told it this summer

Tanana Chiefs Conference will hold a November summit on priorities its chief gathered during summer visits to seven Interior villages.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A fourplex would install no landscaping under this Anchorage ordinance

A builder putting four homes on an Anchorage lot would install no landscaped buffer under an ordinance up for public hearing Oct. 6.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Trump says he will campaign in Alaska for Sen. Dan Sullivan

Trump says he is coming to Alaska to campaign for Dan Sullivan. Mary Peltola outpolled Sullivan by more than 13,000 votes in the August primary.

by Alaska News2mo ago2 min read

Kenai voters will decide on a homeowner tax break worth about $326 a year

Kenai voters decide in November on a homeowner tax exemption worth about $326 a year. It would cost the city roughly $434,000 annually in revenue.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage police force falls hardest on Alaska Native residents

A review found Anchorage police use force disproportionately on Alaska Native residents, more than comparable cities — and likely overstated what they've fixed.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago4 min read

The paperwork behind 65 villages' share of the Bering Sea is up for renewal

Sixty-five Western Alaska villages hold a share of the Bering Sea. Keeping the paperwork current takes 36 hours a year, and it is up for renewal.

by Bill AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

Extending the Coastal Trail north may take a land deal, not an easement

Anchorage wants to extend the Coastal Trail north across Eklutna land. The corporation would rather sell or trade than grant an easement, citing trespassers.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska joins an EMS licensure compact, but it won't take full effect until 2027

Alaska is joining a compact letting out-of-state paramedics and EMTs work here without a separate license — but it won't really kick in until 2027.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read

A gravel company can dig below the water table on Beaver Loop

A gravel company can dig two pits below the water table on Beaver Loop Road, over a neighbor's objections about his wells and the noise.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min readFrom Aug 26

Bethel Fire Department recruits nationally for a captain and firefighters

Bethel Fire Department is recruiting a captain and firefighters nationally to fill gaps in its eight-person career staff serving over 6,000 residents.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Alaska draws 50 people a year off a disability waitlist that has passed 800

Alaska was ordered to eliminate the waitlist for home-based disability care four years ago. Providers say it has roughly doubled since then.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Kodiak's landfill is out of compliance because bears keep getting in

Kodiak gave every household a bear-resistant cart. Bears keep getting into the landfill anyway, and the borough wants to talk about it privately.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage's planning director could approve bigger encroachments alone

Anchorage's planning director could approve setback encroachments three times larger than now allowed, without the public hearing a variance requires.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Anchorage weighs a variance for a 1998 setback encroachment

A house on Chandalar Drive in Anchorage has stood 1.3 feet inside its required setback since 1998, and the city is being asked to let it stay.

by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago2 min read

Doyon shareholders have until Oct. 5 to apply for four open board seats

Doyon Limited shareholders must apply by Oct. 5 for four board seats up for election at the March 2027 annual meeting.

by Maggie AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read